Gambling addiction help in Iceland

Verified helplines

Helplines and online chat

Iceland has no gambling-specific helpline. The line people are directed to is 1717, the Icelandic Red Cross helpline and webchat, which is open 24 hours a day and is the number the licensed operators' own responsible gambling site lists for gambling questions.

For treatment rather than a conversation, call the SÁÁ outpatient clinic on 530 7600 and ask for an appointment about spilafíkn. For peer support, Gamblers Anonymous Iceland publishes a helpline number, 698 3888, and runs meetings including a Sunday online meeting at 21:00 on Teams. There are no membership fees.

Self-exclusion

There is no national self-exclusion register in Iceland as of September 2026. The Lotteries Act (lög um happdrætti nr. 38/2005) governs licensing, supervision, minimum age and penalties, but it does not establish a register of excluded players, and the Icelandic licence holders do not operate a shared scheme of the kind found in the UK, Sweden or Denmark.

In practice this leaves two routes. Where you play through an account — the online lottery and pools site, or a foreign gambling site — you can use whatever account closure or self-exclusion option that operator offers, and it will apply only to that operator. Where you play the slot machines in shops, arcades and bars, there is no account and therefore nothing to exclude yourself from, which is why blocking your access to money and to the venues matters more here than paperwork does.

For what a national register looks like where one exists, see our guide to self-exclusion schemes by country.

Blocking gambling payments and sites

Because there is no register to join, device-level blocking software is the main technical control available in Iceland, and it works on foreign sites as well as Icelandic ones. Our comparison of gambling blocking apps for iOS and Android covers the free and paid options and how hard each is to remove.

Nothing in Icelandic gambling law requires banks to offer a gambling transaction block, so whether your card can be restricted at gambling merchants depends on the individual bank. Ask yours directly.

Free treatment and counselling

SÁÁ has treated gambling problems since 1992 and runs the main service in the country from its outpatient clinic, Göngudeild SÁÁ at Efstaleiti 7 in Reykjavík. Every part of it is free of charge:

• Assessment interview. A one-to-one appointment with a counsellor who assesses your situation and advises on how best to tackle it. It carries no obligations and can be done remotely if you prefer. Book on 530 7600.
• Outpatient gambling treatment. Run by the clinic's gambling team as a 45-minute educational session followed by a support group. No advance registration is needed — you can simply turn up.
• Cognitive behavioural therapy. Delivered by a psychologist at the outpatient clinic; the gambling counsellor makes the referral.
• Weekend courses. Held periodically in Reykjavík and in Akureyri, open to anyone, and announced separately.

Two psychologists working privately with gambling problems, and a certified gambling addiction coach, are listed on the operators' responsible gambling site if you want to go outside SÁÁ.

Support for family and friends

SÁÁ offers relatives courses that combine education and support, and family members can book their own counselling appointment at the outpatient clinic on 530 7600. This is free too, and you do not need the person who gambles to be in treatment, or even to know you have called.

Gamblers Anonymous Iceland publishes a section for relatives on its website. If you are still trying to work out what you are looking at, our guide to the signs of gambling addiction and the guide to helping someone are a starting point.

Gambling law and the regulator

Gambling in Iceland is governed by the Lotteries Act nr. 38/2005, which falls under the Minister of Justice. Running a lottery or betting operation without a licence from a district commissioner is prohibited, and gambling for money or its equivalent may only be operated under a specific statutory authorisation — which is why the market consists of a small number of named licence holders rather than an open licensing regime. Supervision sits with the district commissioner.

When a licence is granted, the commissioner may set a minimum age for participation, but it may never be lower than 18.

The penalties reach further than most people expect. Operating gambling or betting in Iceland without a licence is punishable by fines or up to six months' imprisonment, and up to one year where the activity is extensive or repeated. The same penalties apply to advertising, promoting or distributing information about gambling that has not been licensed under the Act — explicitly regardless of whether the operation is run in Iceland or abroad. There are no Icelandic licences for online casinos, so foreign gambling sites that Icelandic players use sit entirely outside this system, with no local regulator to complain to.

Slot machines are the exception people meet most often. They operate under a separate act on collection boxes (nr. 73/1994) and its regulation (nr. 320/2008), and only two bodies are licensed to run them. Machines are for over-18s only, the regulation sets a minimum payout ratio of 89%, and one of the two licensees reports an average of 92% across its machines — a figure that describes long-run averages across thousands of random outcomes, not the odds on any single play.